Chapter 32 #2
Look closer, Cade. Please. You know it’s not me.
She wanted to scream as Vega’s gaze slid right past him like he was nothing. Cade’s brows pinched together as she walked by without a word.
Deckard stood a few feet behind, eyes narrowing as he noticed the blood at her side and the dried smudge on her cheek. His fingers flexed once at his side, but he didn’t speak.
Stellan straightened near the edge of the fire, face unreadable. She felt his magic stir faintly, tasting for something. But Vega slipped past him.
Even Archer, who always saw more than he let on, simply gave her a sideways glance and offered a casual, “You okay?” as she moved by.
But Vega never broke stride. Shadows stretched long across the warped floorboards as her boots clicked softly against the wood of the stairs. Bridget wanted to claw her way out of her own body.
If you have Nylah and Bloodstone… she thought, the words echoing inside the prison of her mind, why did you bring us back inside? Why not run straight to Cavamyne?
A bitter thought surged up Bridget’s spine. One she didn’t want to share with Vega, but she was sure she already knew. Cade wouldn’t be far behind once he realized you had us both.
Vega didn’t answer.
She climbed the stairs with slow, deliberate steps. The rotted railing scraped against Bridget’s palm, but the sensation felt far away. Her foot pressed into a board that groaned beneath their weight.
Bridget strained against the invisible wall inside herself, desperate to stop.
At the top of the stairs, Vega paused in the darkened hallway, letting Bridget’s eyes adjust. Dust floated in the still air.
Doors stood half-open, their hinges warped with age.
Moonlight slanted in through a cracked window, revealing faded wallpaper and a splatter of black mold creeping up the corners. It smelled of rot and memory.
We need the grimoire to break the curse. I wrote that spell centuries ago, Vega said lightly, fingers trailing along the rusted doorknob to her left. I wouldn’t want to mess it up.
The tone was casual, almost joking, but Bridget felt the sliver of unease pulsing beneath it. Vega was confident. But not invincible. The moment her hand landed on the knob, Bridget felt the whisper of magic ripple across her skin like static.
I ripped those pages out.
Bridget hoped the reveal was enough to distract from going into the room where Cassia and Delphine slept. Had Stellan left the grimoire with them?
Luckily for me, Vega’s voice was syrupy, Bronwyn put them back in.
She practically spat the name. She was always putting her nose in places it didn’t belong.
She thought she was helping by putting the pages you gave to Stellan back together and that no one would find them if they were in my old spell book.
But why she left it with Stellan, I’ll never understand.
As Vega’s hand closed around the knob, a memory surged to the front of Bridget’s mind, unbidden and unwanted.
A cold, damp cell. Her fingers shaking as she tucked the page deep into a cracked stone along the wall, sealing it with blood.
She’d hidden the curse, the one she’d forced on the crown, where no one could ever find it.
What was that? Vega’s voice sliced through the silence.
Bridget’s blood turned to ice.
She hadn’t spoken. Hadn’t meant to think it so loudly. But the invisible wall between them wasn’t just a prison. It was a window. And Vega was listening.
Nothing, Bridget said quietly. She pushed the memory as deep as she could. When did you figure out what I’d done?
I’ll admit, I spent a few decades trying to figure out where I went wrong, Vega said as she turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open.
Cassia and Delphine slept with straw pillows on the floor.
I even believed you were dead, just like you wanted, for a very long time.
That was a long century. It wasn’t until I remembered that cut on your finger.
It was then I knew that you had done something to the crown.
A shiver of dread ran down Bridget’s spine. The grimoire was next to Cassia, like she’d been trying to read it before she’d fallen asleep.
And then when you and Cade were reborn, I gained a foothold from Iegorus. The world shifted. In my favor, of course. I couldn’t communicate yet, but I could see. I spent the next few years watching and waiting. And then one day… you finally saw me.
Ice ran down Bridget’s spine. What are you talking about?
She felt Vega smile. You were five, I think.
It was fun getting to talk to you again around the age you were when we first met.
Bronwyn, of course, noticed and ruined everything…
like she tends to do. It was her idea to send you to the human realm so that I couldn’t influence you.
She promised you would be safer there until the time was right.
I was sent there because of you? If Bridget had control of her body, she probably would have vomited. She hadn’t randomly been sent away? It had been for her protection? And where had it all gone wrong?
Vega let out a scoff. I couldn’t believe her.
Me? A bad influence? You were always the one running around and avoiding all your responsibilities.
But I digress. It was a setback, especially since it worked, but it made me realize something…
You were the key to my foothold. More specifically, your blood. Our blood.
Nausea hit Bridget even harder. Even her very blood was a reminder that everything had been her own fault.
I was so happy when Quinn came along, Vega went on, her voice dripping with mock affection.
And then Cora. Two minds willing to be shaped.
Two lonely people looking for a purpose.
So I gave them one. It wasn’t long before they figured out how to communicate with me.
It was even easier to convince them to use you for blood magic.
I told them the spell would search your memories for the crown, but all it did was increase my influence.
With a cut and a drop, I was able to slip in and out of their minds undetected.
Your blood… my blood… close enough that not even Cade could tell.
You destroyed them. The seething words escaped Bridget’s mind before she could stop them. She remembered Quinn cutting Finn’s neck. That must have been when she’d gained control over him. And then her, with the open gash on her stomach. Iegorus had given her too much time to perfect blood magic.
I did what I had to, Vega replied. It’s not like they weren’t willing participants. They enjoyed the power. Didn’t you? Weren’t you willing to embrace blood magic when it suited you?
Bitterness rose in Bridget like bile. Rage churned under her skin.
Vega laughed. No, of course not. You’re the hero. She paced slowly toward the bed and traced her finger along the tattered grimoire. But it is a little funny that you didn’t have a problem using my curses.
It’s what had to be done.
The words sounded just like Vega. Bridget hated that it needed to be said. Because she was right. She’d turned to blood magic to get rid of the crown and save Cade. Why did she ever think she was any better for it?
Sounds familiar, Vega mused.
Silence stretched between them.
I’m nothing like you.
The thought burst through Bridget’s mind with raw fury. A truth she refused to surrender. She wouldn’t let herself be. She couldn’t.
We’ll see about that. Vega picked up the grimoire and opened it to the last page.
Her finger traced the sparkling ink of the ancient blood spell, the lines curling and twisting with silent threat.
Vega’s lips moved as she memorized the words, the cadence of power already thrumming through Bridget’s veins like a storm gathering momentum.
The spell repeated again and again in her head.
A tremor passed through Bridget’s body. Her lungs stung. Her skull throbbed. And then—
A warm drop slid from her nose.
Blood.
It splashed onto the grimoire and stained the gold-edged parchment. Panic slammed through her.
You can’t hold me for long. You’ll kill me.
Vega stilled, eyes narrowing. Then, calmly, she snapped the book shut before the blood could mar the text further. Casually, she walked to the opposite corner of the room and laid the grimoire beside Cassia’s sleeping form, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her cheek.
Maybe that’s a price I’m now willing to pay.
The words gutted Bridget. She went still inside herself, a breath held in a body that wasn’t hers to breathe.
She had always believed, maybe naively, that somewhere beneath all of Vega’s bitterness and madness, there was still some thread of love.
Some tether between them that might keep her sister from destroying her completely.
But now… she wasn’t so sure.
Vega didn’t seem interested in preserving her. Not like before. Not like when Bridget had been a valuable pawn to get what she wanted.
Now she was just a shell. A tool. And completely expendable.
And the terrifying truth was that Bridget wasn’t sure how much more her body or mind could endure.
From the shadows, Cassia stirred in her sleep. A soft sigh, then nothing more. With a satisfied smile, Vega left the small room. After she’d slipped through the small crack in the door, she turned to close it quietly.
And then Bridget felt it. A pulse, not in her chest, but deep in the core of herself.
Cade.
He was behind them. Standing at the top of the stairs.
Bridget didn’t have to see him. She could feel his presence the way she’d always felt it.
Before magic, before the bond, before everything between them had turned to ash and grief.
It was the ache of knowing someone down to the marrow.
It was something she knew Vega never understood, no matter how deeply she clawed into Bridget’s skin.
But at that moment, Vega smiled.
Well, well, she purred inside Bridget’s mind. Let’s see if he can tell the difference.